Memphis men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith stood in front of freshman David Nickelberry’s parents on Wednesday night engaged in a lengthy conversation once the Tigers finished off their 86-74 win at South Florida.

Nickelberry's minutes had fluctuated throughout this season, and Smith moved his hand like a wave to make his point.

There had been moments of promise, such as when Nickelberry played at least 17 minutes four times during non conference play and showed off the vision and versatility that made him a tantalizing recruit. Recently, however, his impact had steadily decreased, with several games in which he never appeared during the second half.

So Nickelberry’s parents drove down from his hometown of Orlando, Fla., and, once the 6-foot-6 wing logged nine minutes and scored his first field goal in more than three weeks, discussed what was happening with Smith.

“I’m one of those guys, I am who I am,” Smith said minutes later. “You’re going to toe the line, you’re going to play the right way, or you just leave. I hate to say it.”

Why Smith is in a delicate situation

This was the latest proof of the delicate situation Smith must navigate through entering Saturday’s road game at East Carolina. He has used at least 10 players in all but three games this season, but inevitably some aren’t contributing the way they expected.

It’s a concern for Smith and every other coach in the country given the current climate in college basketball, with transfers rising each offseason.

Earlier this week, for instance, back-up point guard Malik Rhodes expressed his frustration over a lack of playing time in an Instagram post.

Rhodes was subsequently suspended indefinitely by Smith, although the coach said the disciplinary action had to do with “something else” other than Rhodes’s social media activity. Regardless, multiple teammates either liked or retweeted Rhodes’s complaint.

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Memphis head coach Tubby Smith during first half action against Tulsa at the FedExForum in Memphis Tenn., Saturday, January 6, 2017.(Photo: Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

In addition to Rhodes and Nickelberry, freshman Victor Enoh and junior Raynere Thornton have also seen their time on the court dwindle as this year progressed. On the other hand, forward Mike Parks Jr. had a limited role early in the season only to emerge as a focal point over the past month.

“They got a lot on their minds, so I just tell them to stay focused,” forward Kyvon Davenport said. “Stay focused. Keep fighting. You’re going to get your chance. Even though they’re not playing a lot, it’s going to come back because at the beginning Mike wasn’t playing a lot, but now he is. He stayed focused. He kept going. He really didn’t let anything get to him.”

How Smith deals with playing time

This scenario isn’t unfamiliar to Smith or any college basketball coach, as players’ gripes about playing time are an annual topic of discussion.

This perhaps contributed to Smith replacing all of his starters with five reserves during the first media timeout of the first half at USF.

Nickelberry, Thornton, Enoh and forward Karim Sameh Azab all ended up playing at least nine minutes for the game. That had only happened once before this season.

Smith called handling all of these different personalities, and keeping them engaged when they aren’t playing as much as they want, “the million dollar question.”

“As a coach, you try to push it as best [you can] and adapt to it, and you try to build a relationship with them and understand, ‘This is why we’re doing it this way, son,’ ” Smith said. “This is why we’re treating you [this way], and this is why we’re trying to push you. We’re trying to correct and improve. If you don’t believe that, I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Smith’s hard-line approach is either noble or naive, depending on how one views the make-up of modern college basketball players. Smith made it clear on Wednesday that he does not support new NCAA proposals that would allow players to transfer to another school without sitting out a year.

Memphis lost five players to transfer after last year and has already struggled to fill its 2018 recruiting class. It’s another reason why Smith's management of this current roster will loom large over the final nine games of the regular season.

But when Wednesday's win was over, the laughter from the Tigers' locker room bounded off the walls. While Smith had a serious conversation on the court, his players sounded happy.

For one night at least, he had found the proper balance.

“I’m always talking to them 24/7, just telling them it’s going to be alright. Your time is coming. You can’t rush it,” junior Jeremiah Martin said earlier this week. “You just got to be ready to play because they have no control over who plays. It’s with the coaches. They going to put the best people out at that point in time that they think can win the game for us.”

Tigers' next game

Who: Memphis (14-8, 5-4 AAC) at East Carolina (8-13, 2-8)When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, Minges ColiseumTV, radio: ESPNews; WREC-AM 600, WEGR-FM 102.7Skinny: Under interim coach Michael Perry, ECU's only two league wins this year are over last-place USF. The Pirates are the AAC's worst 3-point shooting team and yet their top three leading scorers are under 6-foot-5. Guard B.J. Tyson is averaging a team-best 14.3 points per game.